After watching the assigned videos, and reading the critique of Fiona Apple’s Criminal, I was at a bit of a loss as to what to write for this blog post. Leaving the subject as open as it was makes me think about the plethora of topics that could be discussed. So, that’s what I am going to do. I am going to dissect each of these videos and look at the images, the lyrics, it’s place in history, and the reaction the viewer had upon seeing the stimuli.
We first viewed Lesley Gore’s It’s My Party video. This video was produced in 1963 and shows the artist singing to a group of dancing young adults while background dancers perform behind her. The camera cuts back and forth between Lesley, the crowd, and the background dancers as the song goes along.
As far as the lyrics go, they are pretty harmless. It is a poppy little tune about her boyfriend dumping her for another girl and bringing the new girl to the exes birthday party. Of course, his old girlfriend is a bit upset by this new revelation and decides to cry. And do we want to stop her? Why would we – It’s her party and she can cry if she wants to, as the song tells us.
The first thing that I noticed is the lack of connection between the music video and the lyrics of the song. I think my generation is used to the video either telling the pictorial story of the song or at least enhancing the song through images. With this video it is not the case. The images do not follow the lyrics, nor do they enhance the song. I am assuming that the reason for this is due to the time period in which this song was written and performed. This video felt like more of a performance than a music video – one maybe taped during an episode of American Bandstand.
Due to the “safe” lyrics and the even safer video, I did not have too much of a reaction to this song. It is one that I had heard many times in many circumstances, from on the oldies channel to on the Sweatin’ to the Oldies VHS tape my mom still brings out on occasion. This particular song from this era, coupled with the video, does nothing to challenge or shock its viewer in any way.
In 1996, Fiona Apple gave us the song, and video, Criminal. In this music video we see a young woman in the basement of a house that we, the viewers, are led to believe that she has just taken part in an orgy.
The lyrics to this song talk about the fact that she has made mistakes and needs help to redeem herself. In fact, in the lyrics to this song she compares herself at one point to the devil. These song lyrics are a far cry from Lesley Gore’s It’s My Party. As time has gone on, and decades have passed, women have been able to take more of a power role when expressing themselves though song. If Lesley Gore had decided to write something similar to Criminal, there would have been an outrage and both the music industry and her adoring fans would probably have ostracized her.
When I first saw the Criminal video, fourteen years ago, I remember really liking it. It seemed to my sixteen-year-old self that it was a really good video. Looking at it today, I would agree with that assessment. I think that the mood of the video matches with her voice and the lyrics of this particular song.
Video reviewer, Mark Zeltner dislikes that in this video we, the viewers, were pulled into this sensual video through the use of Fiona both taking a picture of us in the beginning and also singing straight to the camera (to us) throughout the video. I actually think that this is what most artists shoot for. They want their listeners to be drawn into the music, into their lyrics, into their video. If we were not meant to be apart of their work, it would never be published for us to read/hear/see.
Another critique Mark Zeltner makes is the assertion that the director of the video has created “a soft porn four minute masterpiece masquerading as a contemporary rock music video”. If you look at what the accepted definition of what soft porn is you will see that this video, while sexual in nature, does not meet these standards. One definition found on Wikipedia states that “Softcore pornography depicts nude and semi-nude performers engaging in casual social nudity or non-graphic representations of sexual intercourse or masturbation.” I would argue that the actors in Apple’s video do not engage in any sort of representation of sexual intercourse or masturbation. While these acts are hinted at, they are not displayed for the viewer to see.
This is very unlike the images shown in Lil Kim’s How Many Licks. This video is filled with nothing but “semi-nude performers engaging in casual social nudity or non-graphic representations of sexual intercourse or masturbation.” Why then did Mark Zeltner leave this song alone when writing his critiques? In Lil Kim’s video, multiple images are cut together to show the story of the main character. We see this character 1.scantily clad while dancing with other scantily clad women, 2. on a poster with nothing covering her breasts other than pasties, 3. being used as an image for a gentleman to get self-pleasure, and 4. as a take charge sexual being wearing a low cut, skin tight outfit while driving a powerful automobile.
Not only were the images of this video explicit, but so were the lyrics. Holy cow. During the introduction of this song Lil Kim uses very graphic language. I had never heard this song before, so when I did hear it for the first time I was quite shocked.
But, I do think that was the point. She is challenging the conventions of each and every viewer with both her lyrics and the video she put together. Over time, we have definitely come a long way from the tame videos of the 1960’s.
The last question I want to bring up is this: if Fiona Apple’s or Lil Kim’s songs were performed by males, would Mark Zeltner and I be more comfortable with them? I believe that the members of our society are pretty used to men being in charge, taking control, and flaunting their sexuality, both in life and in music videos. Would that have made Zeltner more comfortable with the “soft porn” images, or me more comfortable with Lil Kim’s lyrics? It is hard to know the answer to this, but I tend to think the answer is a resounding yes.
No comments:
Post a Comment